


Shoot for the Stars

by QuillerQueen



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Circus, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 14:14:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16064828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuillerQueen/pseuds/QuillerQueen
Summary: Ringmaster Robin falls in love with his new trapeze artist, Regina, who's only able to shed her anxieties and past trauma when high up in the air.





	Shoot for the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this beautiful piece by orchidfeathers.
> 
> https://www.instagram.com/p/BgxE2pZhxkT/?taken-by=hopeful_feathers_evilregal

She’s stunning in every way—but never more so than in moments like this.

On the backdrop of the midnight blue canopy, she soars. The trapeze swings back and forth, back and forth in a precise arch that seems utterly graceless compared to her. Hearts drop and gasps break froth as she swoops down, then propels herself back onto the bar with the ease and lightness of a feather cradled on a breeze. Eyes water and smiles blossom at each exquisite figure; pulses quicken and feet tap out the rockier rhythms she favours for edgier, more energetic performances. Soft and ethereal or dark and spirited, she makes it look like magic, and leaves every spectator spellbound.

Regina, though? She’s hardly even aware she has an audience. This is her world, her safe place. Up in the air, she’s unshackled. Absolutely free.

And Robin wants that for her—that unfettered joy, that light-headed giddiness she exudes whenever she finds herself on those beloved ropes and well-worn bar.

Yes, he wants this for her, always—even if it crushes any hope of his feelings finding fulfillment.

For he’s fallen for her—hard, and fast, and deep. No wonder, for how could he know her heart and not love her? And that means respecting any and all defenses she’s put up around that precious, bruised heart.

She’s been chained down before, manipulated into a marriage by a mean, materialistic mother. Now that she’s escaped that trap, who could blame her for clutching her independence close? Robin certainly doesn’t—no matter how much he pines after her.

Tonight, she glows like the sun. Tonight, she slips from a lyrical masterpiece straight into a frolicsome escapade, twirling the ropes and launching herself into a wild spiral that sends the whole tent into overdrive. Tonight—his heart trips over itself at the realisation—is one of _those_ nights.

For sometimes, when Regina feels particularly safe, and brave, and drunk on endorphins, after the lights go out and the crowds scatter, she seeks him out. She comes to him, and spends the night in his arms, trading soft kisses and eager touches under the stars or in his caravan.

On those nights, he blesses his lucky star, and wishes upon the occasional shooting one.

 _What for?_ she asks him once as her fingers trace the crest inked into his arm.

Alas, why risk spilling the secret too soon and thus ruining the magic?

“That,” he smiles into her gorgeous curls, “is for me to know, and for you to find out.”


End file.
